New FOIA emails show EPA in cahoots with enviro groups, giving them special access

Internal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) emails show extensive collaboration between top agency officials and leading environmentalist groups, including overt efforts to coordinate messaging and pressure the fossil fuel industry.

The emails, obtained by the Energy and Environment Legal Institute (EELI) through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, could fuel an ongoing controversy over EPA policies that critics say are biased against traditional sources of energy.

Emails show EPA used official events to help environmentalist groups gather signatures for petitions on agency rulemaking, incorporated advance copies of letters drafted by those groups into official statements, and worked with environmentalists to publicly pressure executives of at least one energy company.

Nancy Grantham, director of public affairs for EPA Region 1, which covers New England, asked an organizer for the Sierra Club’s New Hampshire chapter to share the group’s agenda so EPA could adjust its messaging accordingly in an email dated March 12, 2012.

“If you could, it would great [sic] if you can send me an email describing what you would like to do in early April in NH–that way I can coordinate messaging with our air offices here and at HQ,” Grantham wrote.

Critics of the agency and its nonprofit allies were surprised by the cooperation.

“The level of coordination in these documents is shocking,” EELI said in a statement.

Plans by EPA and Sierra Club to cripple coal industry exposed by FOIA Documents Obtained as a Result of E&E Legal FOIA Request

Washington, D.C. — A 2012 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed by the Energy & Environment Legal Institute (E&E Legal), under its former name, the American Tradition Institute, has produced several hundred documents affirming the uncomfortably close working relationship between the current U.S. Environmental Agency (EPA) and activist left-wing environmental groups in their effort to make abundant energy resources, particularly coal, much more scarce in America.

These records come in a series of productions in litigation spawned by two specific FOIA requests — a lawsuit filed after an EPA FOIA specialist admitted she and her colleague were instructed to do no work on the requests, as EELI counsel Chris Horner attested in a sworn affidavit. Mostly e-mails between EPA top officials and the Sierra Club, the records illustrate how certain EPA employees with backgrounds working for green pressure groups serve as liaisons to those groups in advancing a shared agenda. Other documents affirm the close advisory role the pressure groups play in key EPA actions, like EPA’s recently published New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) for new coal-fired plants.

This collaboration takes place in many forms: emails providing, e.g., a list of coal plants the green groups insist any EPA standards block from coming or staying on-line, meetings at EPA and at the green groups’ offices where EPA comes to brief them, frequent conference calls, and at the Starbucks at Washington’s J.W. Marriott, across the street from EPA.

The latter is reminiscent of the Caribou Coffee revelations about this most transparent, White House, in history arranging off-site meetings with other lobbyists to avoid signing them in to the building (see, e.g., New York Times reportage of this subterfuge, here.)

The level of coordination in these documents is shocking, showing, for example, Sierra Club strategizing with EPA’s former green group activists, and other senior Obama appointees, about killing the coal and coal-fired electricity industries, even sharing a joke in one particular email saying EPA administrator Gina McCarthy had her “pants on fire” when assuring those parties they would remain viable under EPA’s regulations.

The e-mails show the central players to be two EPA officials who worked in the agency’s policy office at the time of the e-mails, Michael Goo (former legislative director of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) who left EPA for a senior Department of Energy post), Alex Baron, and EPA senior counsel Joe Goffman (a former EDF lawyer). They all work closely with John Coequyt, who heads the Sierra Club’s “Beyond Coal” campaign.

In one e-mail Coequyt sent to Goo and Barron, he said,

“Attached is a list of plants that companies said were shelved because of uncertainty around GHG [greenhouse gas] regulations. If a standard is set that these plants could meet, there is a small chance that they [sic] company could decide to revive the proposal.”

Coequyt is clearly signaling that that if the EPA sets achievable standards, proposed power plants on hold as the new standards are developed could ultimately be built, which is contrary to his group’s agenda.

Last week, the EPA finally released their New Source Performance Standards, four months after first announcing them.. The American Coalition for Clean Coal Energy (ACCCE), which plans to take the EPA to court over the new regulations, questioned what EPA was up to during those four months that it took the agency to post its NSPS.

Numerous other emails show close collaboration on EPA public hearings to generate support for the rule.

“ACCCE asks a very relevant question, if one that EPA’s own mail answers,” added Horner, the lawyer handling the lawsuit. “After reviewing the e-mails between one of the chief outside organizations in the war on coal, and their allies in the EPA, it’s clear that this process was one of trying to develop standards to kill the future of coal in America. And being less than honest about it, even according to their own allies in candid moments.”

The Energy & Environment Legal Institute (E&E Legal) is a 501(c)(3) organization engaged in strategic litigation, policy research, and public education on important energy and environmental issues. Primarily through its petition litigation and transparency practice areas, E&E Legal seeks to correct onerous federal and state policies that hinder the economy, increase the cost of energy, eliminate jobs, and do little or nothing to improve the environment.

The law that was passed is the “Freedom of information act”. Yet, under this administration, every time someone makes a request under that law they end up having to go to court to obtain the information. Does this make sense to anyone except to those who choose to violate the law.

It goes without saying it is no surprise this administration resists these citizens requests and then forces us taxpayers to contribute to their stonewalling efforts.

Why am I not surprised and this was supposed to be the transparent administration? Why am I reminded of the wizard in the Wizard of Oz? “Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!” What is frustrating is how many are following that advice and ignoring the man behind the screen. At least this leader isn’t doing as bad of things as Adolf Hitler. Even if people are following him as blindly. Have we all become brainwashed robots?
On lighter news it has been another beautiful day.

The problem is the real big & true environmental problems have been addressed. When the EPA was formed there were real problems – like the Cuyahoga river catching fire. Now that those real problems are addressed, they have to come up with all sorts of pseudo-problems, like AGW, to justify their existence.

Alternate idea – lets downscale the EPA to a size proportional the real new environmental issues that need to be addressed – I am guessing that will be something like a 95% reduction.

It is a deeper relationship than these docs indicate. Out of court deals are struck. Apparently prior to filing law suits, that permit big green companies to later make faux suits agaisnt the collaborating EPA, with prearranged settlement terms. This permits imposing judgements instead of bothering with writing new laws or regs. And the judgements appear to offer fat ‘reimbursements’ of legal fees by the big green plaintiffs.

The other states this:
EPA FACT SHEET:
Reducing Carbon Pollution From Power Plants
Moving Forward On the Climate Action Plan
POWER PLANT CARBON POLLUTION IMPACTS PUBLIC HEALTH AND THE ENVIRONMENT
•
Carbon pollution stays in the atmosphere and contributes to climate change, which is
one of the most significant public health challenges of our time.
•
Unchecked carbon pollution leads to long lasting changes in our climate, such as rising
global temperatures; rising sea level,changes in weather and precipitation patterns ; and changes in ecosystems, habitats and species diversity .
•
Public health risks include more heat waves and drought ; worsening smog (also called ground level ozone pollution)
;
increasing the intensity of extreme events, like hurricanes,
extreme precipitation and flooding ; and increasing the range of ticks and mosquitoes, which
can spread disease such as Lyme disease and West Nile virus
.
•
Our most vulnerable citizens, including children, older adults, people with heart or lung
disease and people living in poverty are most at risk from the impacts of climate change

Source number one used satellite observations of actual vegetation around the world over a 20 year period and looked at variations in foliage, while considering effects from other factors, to make its assessment.

How could source number 2, the EPA come to the conclusion that CO2 is pollution when it’s massively increasing crop yields and world food production. They must have some legit data to base this conclusion and the regulations on. Oh yeah, global climate models.

As Dr. Spencer has noted, global climate models are an EPIC failure but the EPA has its mission and has no intention of letting anything get in the way………..especially empirical data/facts, science, rationality, ethics or good judgement.

What’s really farcical is when one of the “green” outfits sues the EPA so that the EPA is “forced” to do what the “greens” want by the courts while generating $millions for their mutual lawyer pals and/or spouses.

Eisenhower was right. Government can commit no greater crime than to work in secret with select groups to suborn the will and wishes of the people. Regardless of the case for or against anthropoheinous climate refudiation, this is wrong and all parties should agree it is wrong. The outcome does not justify the means.

If you like your dishonest government, you can keep your dishonest government.

Justa Joe says:
January 15, 2014 at 4:46 pm
What’s really farcical is when one of the “green” outfits sues the EPA so that the EPA is “forced” to do what the “greens” want by the courts while generating $millions for their mutual lawyer pals and/or spouses.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Green Power Partnership (GPP) will host a webinar entitled “Gaining a Green Marketing Advantage: Data-Driven Insights into Today’s Green Consumer.” By understanding what today’s green consumers and potential employees care about and how they engage in sustainability decision-making, organizations can influence brand perception, impact sales and attract and retain top talent. Retail companies, green power suppliers and utilities, and any organization looking to reach environmentally-oriented consumers will benefit from this webinar.

The webinar will feature Suzanne Shelton, President & CEO of Shelton Group, a leading national marketing communications firm entirely focused in the energy and environment sectors. The company polls Americans on an ongoing basis to understand their drivers and obstacles to making more sustainable choices, and then uses those insights to help organizations define and leverage their sustainability or energy efficiency stories to gain a market advantage. Suzanne Shelton is a regular presenter at the Renewable Energy Markets conference – she’s a dynamic and insightful speaker.

Speakers include:

•Blaine Collison, Program Director, U.S. EPA’s Green Power Partnership

Mainstream media will ignore this, and this scandal like the others, will fade away despite this Administration’s wanton lawlessness. The House led by the less-than-useless Boener does not have the character, strength nor integrity to impeach this President who has abrogated his oath of office more times than can be counted

From Wikipedia –
Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, commonly referred to as the RICO Act or simply RICO, is a United States federal law that provides for extended criminal penalties and a civil cause of action for acts performed as part of an ongoing criminal organization. The RICO Act focuses specifically on racketeering, and it allows the leaders of a syndicate to be tried for the crimes which they ordered others to do or assisted them, closing a perceived loophole that allowed someone who told a man to, for example, murder, to be exempt from the trial because he did not actually commit the crime personally.

That’s good news especially now this “special relationship” between EPA and the Environmentalist groups is so well documented.
We will use this information at the American version of the upcoming “Neurenburg Trials” which will take place before we hang the bastards (LOL)

i believe this first of two programs, which conflates carbon & carbon dioxide from start to finish, needs a thread of its own and maximum exposure:

on BBC’s CAGW Central these days: BUSINESS, i repeat, BUSINESS Daily – with Justin Rowlatt. excerpts below begin about half-way through, with Chris Mottershead, Vice Principal for Research, Kings College, London, oil man, former head of Energy Security at BP:

Rowlatt: can we successfully deal with climate change & CLOSE DOWN these OLD, DIRTY coal-fired power stations & find clean ways of producing energy?
Mottershead: yes, there are more than enough solutions available. we could make serious inroads if we chose to: energy efficiency, renewables, nuclear, & of course you can use carbon capture, put the carbon back underground in a safe way… Kyoto tried, not the way to do it. China/US responsible for 42% of emissions, simple process, the two should sit down, agree & the world would follow their leadership.
Rowlatt: it would be sensible, but there’s no sign of them wanting to do it, is there?
Mottershead:i think there’s LOT OF SIGNS IN CHINA. China is going to build out an energy infrastructure. the cost of building one that’s a LOWER-CARBON infrastructure is a MARGINAL increase on what they were going to do…
Rowlatt: additional cost on consumers, tough sell for politicians.
Mottershead: yes, but if we don’t price the carbon emissions, we won’t make the necessary changes.

Rowlatt: so, are democracies capable of getting to grip to the challenge? I spoke to another oil man, John Hofmeister, former chairman of Shell Oil Company until 2008. is the world ready to make the leap to a CARBON-FREE ECONOMY.
Hofmeister: we’re going to use hydrocarbons into the future as far as we can see.
Rowlatt: but if u look at the science, we’re going to suffer very serious climate effects, harder to for humans to live on the planet &, by the time people realise that, & they DEMAND CHANGE from their leaders, it will be too late.
Hofmeister: and i agree with u. concern for the environment is now 22 out of 25 among priorities for the US public.
Rowlatt: are you saying, this is a failure of democracy
Hofmeister: it’s not the form, it’s the performance of govt that matters. democracy’s performance is TERRIBLE. largely because money influences the democratic outcomes.
Rowlatt: inherently politicans think short-term.
Hofmeister: i use the expression “political-time” meaning the time between elections trumps energy times or environmental time, all the time, ABSENT A CRISIS THAT PUSHES THE POPULAR WILL to do something very differently.
Rowlatt: is your argument that, until the climate gets really bad, there’ll be no political leadership.
Hofmeister: most of us alive today will be dead, but our children will suffer – we will have placed on our children & grandchildren a burden we were not willing to bear…
if govt doesn’t lead, we will really COOK OURSELVES, ALMOST LITERALLY, before we deal with this issue. it’s sad, but it is the case today.
education matters, information matters, grassroot conversation matters, but even that is hard to do sometimes because you have “THE DENIERS” ((LAUGHTER) & the deniers make the case every time there is a snowstorm in the United States.
Rowlatt: i have to say, this analysis of yours is very depressing.
Hofmeister: life’s hard & choices have to be made. the more people are aware of…the better choices can be made. any responsible person, parent, owes it to be children, owes it to employees to say what they think.
22.20: R: if this week’s Element program has left you depressed, fear not. tune in next week, for PART TWO of CARBON, in which we explore the many amazing properties of CARBON MATERIAL, some of which could help us overcome our addiction to fossil fuels.

(this is a longer version than at iPlayer)

23 mins: 15 Jan: BBC Business Daily: Elemental Business – Carbon
with Justin Rowlatt
Wed, 15 Jan 14
Carbon, the fundamental building block of life, source of virtually all our energy and a source of incredible world-wide wealth; but what happens when we hit a carbon crunch?http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/bizdaily

15 Jan: BBC iPlayer Version 17 mins: Elemental Business – Carbon
In our series examining the world economy from the perspective of the chemical elements, we look at how the industrial revolution was really an energy revolution driven by carbon-based fossil fuels. Chemistry professor Andrea Sella of University College London and his geology colleague professor Mark Maslin explain the chemical wizardry that makes carbon the ultimate fuel. We hear from Dr Paul Warde an industrial historian at the University of East Anglia, about how the ‘C’ element has powered the longest and most sustained economic boom in the history of humanity. But how long can it last? Can we expect the mother of all crashes when the carbon crunch finally comes? Two former oil men, Chris Mottershead, former head of energy security at BP and now vice principal for research at King’s College in London and John Hofmeister, former president of Shell Oil, give us their perspectives on the whether the world is ready to tackle its addiction to fossil fuels, before the fuel runs out and in time to avert a looming climate change disaster.http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p01pgpz3/Business_Daily_Elemental_Business_Carbon/

Justin Rowlatt’s two guests above:

CAMAC ENERGY: John Hofmeister, Director
The former president of Shell Oil Company and veteran of multiple industries for over 35 years, Mr. Hofmeister has held key leadership positions at General Electric, Nortel and AlliedSignal (now Honeywell International).
He currently serves as Chairman of the National Urban League and is a member of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technical Advisory Committee.
Upon retirement from Shell Oil, Mr. Hoifmeister founded the not-for-profit Citizens for Affordable Energy, a nationwide membership association, which promotes sound U.S. energy security solutions…
OVERVIEW: CAMAC Energy Inc. (NYSE MKT: CAK) operates as an independent oil and gas exploration and production company focused on energy resources in Africa. Its asset portfolio consists of 8 licenses covering an area of 41,000 square kilometers, including production and other projects offshore Nigeria, as well as exploration licenses offshore and onshore Kenya, and offshore Gambia. CAMAC Energy is headquartered in Houston, Texas.http://www.camacenergy.com/john-hofmeister.php

Chris Mottershead: King’s College: Vice-Principal (Research and Innovation)
He joined King’s College London in 2009 after retiring from BP, where he worked for 30 years, most recently as their Global Advisor on Energy Security and Climate Change.
Prior to this he was Technology Vice President for the Global Gas, Power and Renewables businesses, and was also the technical manager for its North Sea exploration and production activities…
As well as his College accountabilities, he is a non-Executive Director of the Carbon Trust, Francis Crick Institute and Imanova, a Governor of King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and a member of the Scientific Advisory Group of the Department of Energy and Climate Change in the UK as well as the Advisory Board of the National Center of Atmospheric Research in the US.http://www.kcl.ac.uk/aboutkings/principal/centralteam/vpri.aspx

This collusion is why progressives always ASSUME their “enemies” are doing the same thing.
They assume everyone is as corrupt (for a cause of course) as they are.
It’s why they believe others can’t be trusted with guns, because they know THEY can’t be trusted.

Under the powers enumerated in Article 1 Section 8 of the Constitution, the federal government has absolutely no power or authority to implement environmental policy. Under the 9th and 10th Amendments, the individual States have the right to set pollution standards for their state.

If individual states set their own pollution standards, the people and corporations would vote with their feet and their dollars to determine what environmental policies meet their constituent’s needs. If pollution standards are too severe, the citizens may enjoy cleaner air/water but fewer industrial jobs, if pollution standards are too lax, they’ll live in a cesspool and no one in their right mind would live there.

The States are perfectly capable of determining and enforcing suitable environmental policies that meet the desires of their constituents and product liability/class action suits are capable of keep businesses in check that choose to act irresponsibly.

The EPA is obviously run by leftist eco-warriors that have no have no concept of cost/benefit analysis and has destroyed entire industries. The EPA ha made manufacturing in the US extremely difficult, time consuming, expensive and uncompetitive, and contributed to: the US losing 10’s of millions of good-paying manufacturing jobs, much higher costs of goods and lowered our standards of living.

These are only the communications where the EPA folks used their official e-mail addresses – we can only guess as to the content of the messages which were delivered via the alternate (i.e. illegal) e-mail accounts that are used to avoid compliance with legal requirements. Those might be a bit juicier…

As usual nothing will come of this…. The ATI is wasting its time and money. The only thing is to boot him out next election and put a staunch ant AGW person in. This is doubtful too knowing the Republicans…It may take 50 years or more before changes occur…

Dave in Canmore,
Opposition party? Are you kidding me? The sheep do not need an opposition party.. The justice department and the media are in with the rest of the politicians here…Just wrote an article today about this very issue..Sad state I tell you..

There seems to be no repercussions for anything that happens in America.

Where is your justice department? Where is your opposition party? Where is your media?

My deepest condolences.

Well, for one thing, any politician that tries to attack the EPA will be seen as anti-environment and, thanks to 30 years of green-washing, that is political suicide. Hopefully the media can put their green-bias aside and just focus on the corruption.

Getting and dealing with the truth is hard. I saw this posted on a media climate news story by “alpha2actual” of disqus and liked it, since I am a fan of movies, if not always the messages conveyed. Maybe you will like it too. Kudos to alpha2:

“We live in a republic that has walls. And those walls have to be guarded by men with thermometers. Who’s gonna do it? You, TouristTurkey? You, Dr Mann? You, Dr Hansen? I have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom. You weep for those Polar Bears and you curse the temperature takers. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know. My existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves useless expenditure of national treasure and retards the genocidal effects of the policies you want to implement.

You don’t want the truth. Deep down, in places you don’t talk about when your are sleeping alone late at night after those Georgetown cocktail parties after chowing down on limp quiche and swilling a third rate California Chardonnay devoid of pretension, you want me on that wall, you need me on that wall. We use words like Little Ice Age, Medieval Warming Period, and The Pause …we use these words as the backbone to a life devoted to taking temperature. We don’t use terms like grant chasing, scientific tourism, transnational progressivism, or Crony Socialism. You use them as punch lines. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the electric blanket powered by the very electricity I provide, then questions the manner in which I provide it. I’d prefer you just said thank you and went on your way. Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a thermometer and stand a post. Either way, I don’t give a damn what you think you’re entitled to.”

This is nothing new. Back at the dawn of the solid-state electronics industry in the bay area, Ecoloon lawyers and the brand new EPA got a Court order to strangle the baby in its’ crib. The first commercial silicon wafer plant at Healdsburg could not be permitted if its’ NOx output exceeded the exhaust of 2-1970 cars on the street in front of the plant, by court order! Everyone at the EPA knew that the NOx exhaust from the crystal growing chambers could not be scrubbed to this level. The owners of the plant asked a self educated plumber G.P.Savko, that had solved several other problems in this new industry, if he could solve this problem. After a crash course in fume scrubbing he created a fume scrubber system that cleaned the exhaust to a NOx level less then 1 car, as tested by the EPA! and the plant was permitted, by court order.

Some International Oligarchs were not pleased. They had planned to make Singapore the heart of the new silicon industry. pg

OK, what to we do as voters to counteract this??? Write letters, emails? And to who?
===========
Just spread the word to anyone you can.
Put a link on your website ?, tell your friends, inform the voters ?
Let them read for themselves.

Strangely enough, the same Greek civilization, that brought us the word Democracy also coined the descriptor; Kleptocracy.
What the bureaus are doing here is classic government by thieves.
They steal the authority of the people.they steal public wealth,they destroy private wealth to benefit their chosen few.

There needs to be some punitive damages for taxpayer funded organizations, like the EPA, that fight FOIA requests and lose in court — something like treble the plaintiffs legal fees for the initial offense, doubling with each additional ruling against them, and a poison pill (permanent loss of funding) for any organization that loses three lawsuits during a four year period.

BTW does anyone know If Lisa Jackson, AKA Richard Windsor, ever released all of her secret emails?

United States Climate Action Partnership
This is an umbrella organization whose members include:
Center for Climate and Energy Solutions
Environmental [Defense] Fund
[Natural] Resources [Defense] Council
The Nature Conservancy
World Resources Institutehttp://www.us-cap.org

take less than 2 minutes time- out to get a laugh when bbc talks to two typical Melbourne women at the Aussie Open Tennis, looking for a CAGW angle (the preamble to this included several days over 40 degress has raised questions as to how climate change has impacted Australia):

two Melbournians put the BBC straight (under two minutes):

15 Jan: BBC: Australia heatwave prompts fire alerts
(SCROLL DOWN) VIDEO: The BBC’s Russell Fuller discusses the high temperatures with tennis fans in Melbourne Park
paraphrasing:
Margaret: Melbourne’s like that in January, it can be extremely hot. but last week it was cool; next week it will be cooler.
Russell: Eleanor, have u had problems with electricity running short, or fires?
Eleanor: No, i live in the City. there have been some fires out further. i know there’s some people without aircon, which makes it hard.http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-25723867

The phrase “carbon pollution” is an abomination, to any one, with any intellectual integrity. If I filled a leaf-blower with graphite powder and tuned it on, I would be guilty of carbon pollution. If they are not refering to that activity, (which I am tempted to do outside the EPA headquarters) than we are not talking about a compound that needs regulation.
Show me one person harmed by a miniscule increase in a life-sustaining molecule. That should be required, to prove standing. An actual injury, that can be linked to the substance in question.
I fear our nation, that was “conceived in liberty”, is now dedicated to the destruction of that liberty.

Dave in Canmore,
Take a look at what’s happening in Ontario with the wind turbines.
Cronyism, possible corruption, rural people fighting the government. It’s just as bad as in the States. Even have some of the same parties as are involved in the States.But you would never know this from reading the papers or watching TV.
Rural Ontario could be on the verge of revolt.
Google/Bing: Ontario Wind Resistance. org

The EPA’s internal slogan:
Two score and three years ago, our father “Tricky Dick” Nixon brought forth on this nation, a new bureaucratic agency, conceived in cronyism, and dedicated to the proposition that we know what is best for you. So give us your money and shut up, while we take care of a little “green business”.

RS says:
January 15, 2014 at 5:42 pm
This collusion is why progressives always ASSUME their “enemies” are doing the same thing.
They assume everyone is as corrupt (for a cause of course) as they are.
It’s why they believe others can’t be trusted with guns, because they know THEY can’t be trusted.
——————————————————-
Bang on.

I would add that their enemies are usually caught by surprise since they assume that environmental groups operate under the same ethical and legal constraints as business usually does. Not so.

In the year 2100, when economic historians look back, the EPA, green groups along with other factors will be seen as instrumental in the genteel decline of the United States of America. The US economy will probably resemble Mexico’s today. There could also be massive emigration on an unprecedented scale as impoverished Americans head off to Cambodia, India, Vietnam, etc.

Robertvd says:
January 16, 2014 at 12:04 am
Never think that Nazi germany lost the war. The complete Gestapo moved to the US. We all know that metastasis kill .
———————————————-
Not quite as OT as it at first might appear:
It seems that contrary to the cliche that there was an evil Gestapo officer on every corner which kept everyone in line: a) compared to the population their numbers were very small and many large areas had a relative handful. b) most Gestapo were former police officers who just needed a job after the purge of the regular police and not fanatical Nazis.
The main reason they were able to stifle dissent was because of neighbours informing on neighbours, often for the most trivial and despicable reasons (such as just thinking someone was odd). The Gestapo spent most of their time sorting and acting on denunciations and almost none lingering on street corners. The average German had far more to fear from randomly upsetting a neighbour than carelessly attracting the attention of a leather-coated Himmler clone.

And back to the topic at hand: I’d expect that if environmental legislation ever becomes draconian there will be more to fear from the fanatical, or merely vindictive, neighbour or indoctrinated child who might denounce you rather than uniformed enforcement goons patrolling the streets. I think that’s a much more depressing thought.

F.A.H. Says
“You don’t want the truth. Deep down, in places you don’t talk about when your are sleeping alone late at night after those Georgetown cocktail parties after chowing down on limp quiche and swilling a third rate California Chardonnay devoid of pretension, ”

Individuals and organizations alike are mostly looking for the easiest ways to satisfy human needs and instincts, both conscious or unconscious.
Truth that is not conform is not welcome and labelled denier, etc..
Who cares about prevention as long as you get drunk at the cheapest rates?

The administration of President Obama and President Obama himself appear to be the most corrupt in all American history. This distortion of science and history in pursuit of a political agenda is frightening and there appears to be no will to remove it, amongst the general population.

Why am I not surprised and this was supposed to be the transparent administration? Why am I reminded of the wizard in the Wizard of Oz? “Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!” What is frustrating is how many are following that advice and ignoring the man behind the screen….
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Not really. That same paper, The Washington Free Beacon, has another article Poll: Government Itself is Top U.S. Problem This is a Jan. 5-8 Gallup poll. where Americans are pointing at D.C. as the cause of US problems.

Twenty-one percent of those polled said “dissatisfaction with government/Congress/politicians; poor leadership/corruption/abuse of power” is the most important problem in the United States today.

These findings are no surprise, given that 64% of Likely U.S. Voters now view the federal government unfavorably, with 34% who have a Very Unfavorable opinion of it.

Fifty-six percent (56%) of Democrats still pledge allegiance to the federal government, but pluralities of Republicans (45%) and those not affiliated with either major political party (44%) have more confidence in zombies when it comes to running the nation’s affairs.

….There have been recent reports that, because of costs, exit polls in the 2012 presidential election will no longer be conducted on the usual comprehensive basis in order to save money. If the reports are correct, no check remains on election theft.

Digital Votes

In a fascinating article in Harper’s Magazine (October 26, 2012) Victoria Collier notes that in the old technology, election theft depended on the power of machine politicians, such as Louisiana Senator Huey Long, to prevent exposure.

With the advent of modern technology, Collier writes that “a brave new world of election rigging emerged.” The brave new world of election theft was created by “the mass adoption of computerized voting technology and the outsourcing of our elections to a handful of corporations that operate in the shadows, with little oversight or accountability. This privatization of our elections has occurred without public knowledge or consent, leading to one of the most dangerous and least understood crisis in the history of American democracy. We have actually lost the ability to verify election results.”

He goes on to detail various rigged elections. This one is especially interesting.

…Initially Hagel trailed the popular Democratic governor, Ben Nelson, who had been elected in a landslide two years earlier…..

…Few Americans knew that until shortly before the election, Hagel had been chairman of the company whose computerized voting machines would soon count his own votes: Election Systems & Software (then called American Information Systems). Hagel stepped down from his post just two weeks before announcing his candidacy. Yet he retained millions of dollars in stock…

Time to kick out all the voting machines and volunteer to count votes at public elections.

So, now we have confirmatory evidence that the EPA and enviro’s are bending the system. Do we plan to sue to overturn regulations based on this collusion, or do we plan to just get the vapors? Without direct legal action, this will not stop the collusion and it is impossible to get the Administration to change.

Dave in Canmore, Opposition party? Are you kidding me? …
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
An excellent article is America’s Ruling Class with a similar article by Jo Nova’s hsband, Dr Evans Climate Coup – The Politics Dr. Evans calls them the Regulating Class. Scott Rasmussen calls them the Political Class Biggest Loser of 2013: the Political Class (I sure hope he is correct.) Now we just have to come up with some “Honest Politicians” we can vote FOR. I am getting really sick of voting for “the lesser of two evils” who actually as different as Tweedle Dumb and Tweedle Dumber.

There needs to be some punitive damages for taxpayer funded organizations, like the EPA, that fight FOIA requests and lose in court….
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Unfortunately the government is a protected species. It has to give YOU permission to sue it.

Knowing that think about those Green Lawsuits….

Sovereign immunity is a judicial doctrine that prevents the government or its political subdivisions, departments, and agencies from being sued without its consent. The doctrine stems from the ancient English principle that the monarch [i.e., King] can do no wrong.

Russ R. says: @ January 15, 2014 at 9:34 pm
… Show me one person harmed by a miniscule increase in a life-sustaining molecule. That should be required, to prove standing. An actual injury, that can be linked to the substance in question….
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How about the 65 deaths a day in the UK?…

OH, that is because “people die during winter because they can’t afford to heat their homes properly.” but I am sure the US EPA can manage to say that is because of Climate Change. After all Obama’s Science Czar managed to say the cold temperatures here in the USA were caused by Climate Change. The White House gets into the ‘polar vortex’ climate change blame business

Does, the parliament in the USA have something equivalent to a royal commission, a judicial enquiry with the power to compel answers. If so I think those readers that are US citizens should be demanding their government conduct a “Royal Commission” into the activities of their EPA and possibly the FDA as well to root out corruption, and prosecute the wrongdoers.

….People forget that we are the United States. As defined by the 10th Amendment….
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That was “Fixed” in two different ways.

First the Senate was supposed to represent the interest of the states. Under the original provisions of the Constitution, senators were elected by state legislatures. The Seventeenth Amendment established direct election of United States Senators by popular vote. It was ratified in 1913 along with the Sixteenth Amendment allowing the Congress to levy an income tax and the Federal Reserve Act that set-up a Central Bank with Fractional Reserve Banking practices. 1913 was definitely an unlucky year for the American people since it consolidated power in the Federal Government and gave a handful of bankers the purse strings with the ability to print money out of thin air that they then loaned to the government.

The second fix follows from the changes made in the US government in 1913.

The federal, state, and local governments collected nearly $3.9 trillion in revenue in 2004, roughly one-third of GDP. Almost half that amount went to the federal government, which turned around and passed more than $400 billion on to state and local governments (90 percent to the states). For their part, the states brought in almost $1.2 trillion of their own revenue, 30 percent of which they passed on to local governments to help finance education and other activities. Finally, local governments used property taxes and other sources to collect nearly $800 billion. Net of intergovernmental transfers, the federal government kept 38 percent of all revenue, with states and local governments each getting 31 percent.….http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?ID=1001092

Giselle documents the USDA’s bribes to states in the matter of the National Animal Identification System that the UN and WTO want. These are called “Cooperative Agreements” link (See sidebar for individual agreements by state)

Does, the parliament in the USA have something equivalent to a royal commission….
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We have Congressional Investigations but they do not do much good. (Note this all happened under Bush so the party in control does not matter)

“This year, 18.2 million shipments of food, devices, cosmetics and drugs are expected to enter more than 300 U.S. ports; the FDA. had 454 investigators in 2007 — one and a half per port — to scrutinize them..”

Report Rips FDA Oversight Of Produce
FDA’s efforts to combat foodborne illness are hampered by staffing shortages, infrequent inspections and lax enforcement at fresh produce processing plants, according to congressional investigators. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) report also said only 1% of produce imported into the U.S. is inspected, and the practice of mixing produce from several sources makes tracing contamination challenging…http://www.americanvegetablegrower.com/veggie_bytes/page.php?page=crops_markets#fdafouled

Meatpacking Maverick: John Munsell’s against-the-odds struggle for improved food safety
“Before the tainted beef arrived — USDA-approved and vacuum-sealed – Munsell had no reason to doubt the integrity of the food-safety system. But that changed after the meat he ground for hamburger tested positive for E. coli 0157:H7. Instead of tracking the contaminated meat back to its source, the USDA launched an investigation of Munsell’s own operation. Never mind that the local federal inspector had seen the beef go straight from the package into a clean grinder — a USDA spokesman called that testimony “hearsay.” By February 2002, three more tests of meat Munsell was grinding straight from the package came back positive. This time, as he would later testify in a government hearing, he had paperwork documenting that the beef came from a single source: ConAgra…http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2003/11/meatpacking-maverick

So we have a problem with both the FDA and the USDA not doing their jobs. Unfortunately these are just two of many “incidents” handle in such a way that transnational corporations are not “inconvenienced”. Stanley Painter, Chairman of the National Food Inspection Unions, stated in his testimony at the congressional hearing on the Hallmark Dower Cows:

“..when we see violations of FSIS regulations and we are instructed not to write non-compliance reports… Sometimes even if we write non-compliance reports, some of the larger companies use their political muscle to get those overturned….Some of my members have been intimidated by agency management in the past when they came forward and tried to enforce agency regulations and policies. I will give you a personal example…the agency summoned me to come here to Washington, DC where agency officials subjected me to several hours of interrogation including wanting me to identify which of my members were blowing the whistle on the SRM removal violations. I refused to do so….I was then placed on disciplinary investigation status. The agency even contacted the USDA Office of Inspector General to explore criminal charges being filed against me…

It was not until August 2005 that over 1000 non-compliance reports – weighing some 16 pounds — were turned over to both AFGE and Public Citizen that proved that what my members were telling me was correct – that some beef slaughter facilities were not complying with the SRM removal regulations… on the same day those records were released, I received written notification from the agency that they were dropping their disciplinary investigation – eight months after their “investigation” began.http://domesticpolicy.oversight.house.gov/story.asp?ID=1870

Answer. [see pg 73 for song and dance] … Their observations also concluded that the chairman’s allegations were unsubstantiated.

Question. Why did FSIS pressure Mr. Painter to name his sources, instead of reviewing its database of non-compliance reports for the information it needed?

Answer. FSIS took these allegations seriously and sought specifics so the Agency could follow-up appropriately. To date, nothing communicated to FSIS through interviews or data analysis, supports the chairman’s charge that BSE regulations are not being effectively carried out or enforced by FSIS inspection personnel.http://www.access.gpo.gov/congress/senate/pdf/109hrg/99848.pdf

GEE, this public hearing in which the USDA dis-invited Stan Painter and his Inspectors seems to show there WAS a problem swept under the rug. Imagine that.

Here is the follow up. Glad to see there was some justice. (NOTE: Painter is the head of a union which helps.)

This proceeding was initiated by a charge filed, and amended, against U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food Safety and Inspection Service, Washington, D.C. (FSIS or Respondent), by National Joint Council of Food Inspection Locals, American Federation of Government Employees (AFL-CIO) (Union or Joint Council). The Regional Director of the Atlanta Region of the FLRA, on behalf of the General Counsel (GC) of the FLRA, issued a Complaint and Notice of Hearing in this case. The Complaint alleges that FSIS violated section 7116(a)(1) and (2) of the Statute by suspending the Union’s Southern Council Vice President Charles Stanley Painter for five days because Painter had engaged in protected activity. FSIS filed an Answer denying the substantive allegations of the Complaint….

The evidence is clear that Painter’s language was impulsive rather than designed and was provoked by de Mola calling Painter a liar. …https://www.flra.gov/node/15251

A bit more on the USDA’s total disregard for the safety of the American consumer.

So our borders are wide open to diseased cattle. From the Texas government report of 2009.

“..new disease challenges are emerging. Some are domestic diseases that are increasing in significance. Others are foreign diseases that may be imported as result of the exponential increases in international importations of animals and animal products. Our industries and our economy are threatened by diseases and pests that heretofore we only read about in disease text books…” http://www.tahc.state.tx.us/agency/TAHC_Strategic_Plan_2009-2013.pdf

The USA exports 700,000 tons of quality beef while importing 1,500,000 tons from countries with: Naegleria fowler, Encephalitis, Vesicular Stomatitis viruses, Leptospirosis, Trypanosomiasis (Chagas disease), and foot and mouth disease. The US imports 2.5 million live cattle from Canada with BSE (now found in USA) and from Mexico with tuberculosis (now found in USA), brucellosis (now found in USA) cattle tick fever, (now found in USA) Trypanosoma cruz,, (now found in USA), Bluetongue (now found in USA), and Vesicular stomatitis. (I will spare you the investigation into that information)

The USDA is now depending on “Traceability’ instead of testing for disease or quarantine at the borders. The three years after the FDA/USDA changed the food safety regs to the international HACCP regs compared to the three years before showed a doubling of the food borne illness in the USA.

Anthony, your site did a nice job keeping people up to speed on Climategate, providing hundreds of useful links in the process.

It strikes me that WUWT might serve a similar purpose here, spreading the news of EPA corruption that the mainstream media is likely to ignore, while linking to valuable sources that provide additional, possibly incriminating, details. You might even attract some whistleblowers in the process.

I hope you stay on this one. The EPA is a rat’s nest that’s needed cleaning out for a long time now.

Not on subject but: Per the EIA (Energy Info Agency) the 2nd week of Jan. Natural Gas net draw from storage was 287 Billion cu. ft. This is a record draw for any week of the heating season for the past 21 seasons. The second highest record 285 B cu ft was the second week of Dec 2013 also this season. The previous record draw was 266 billion cu ft the 2nd week of Jan 2010. Any time the draw exceeds 200 B Cu Ft It usually correlates with a negative temperature anomaly in the US for that week.

The following link provides access to a XL storage history spread sheet link.

The administration of President Obama and President Obama himself appear to be the most corrupt in all American history. This distortion of science and history in pursuit of a political agenda is frightening and there appears to be no will to remove it, amongst the general population.

“Climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our time. Based on the evidence, more than 97% of climate scientists are convinced that human-caused climate change is occurring. If our changing climate goes unchecked, it will have devastating impacts on the United States and the planet. Reducing carbon pollution is critically important to the protection of Americans’ health and the environment upon which our economy depends.”

Take away: The fight is not over, by a long shot. For all we hope and all we want for truth to prevail, the Big Lie continues – at the highest posts of the current administration. We must be ever vigilant unbtil truth prevails.

The U.S. is now the only country that still has the grand jury system whose function is to root out government corruption and protect the public from corruption.
Maybe a grand jury investigation is needed in this situation and perhaps only minor figures can be caught but this will bring things out in the open for public exposure.

Some of the constitutional amendments Levin would like to see include:

– imposing a 12-year limit on serving in Congress,
– returning the election of U.S. senators to state legislatures,
– requiring Congress to balance the budget and
– limiting federal spending to 17.5 percent of GDP,
– limiting federal taxation to 15 percent of an individual’s or a corporation’s earnings,
– empowering a special congressional committee to veto regulations issued by federal bureaucracies,
– prohibiting Congress from compelling anyone to participate in commerce (such as forcing them to buy health insurance),
– requiring Congress to publish the final text of any proposed legislation at least 30 days before holding a final vote on it, and
– requiring individuals to present a state-issued photo ID that establishes their identity and citizenship before they are allowed to register or vote.

Russ R. says:
January 15, 2014 at 10:13 pm
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Russ, the EPA was not always like this. When I began doing contract work in mobile source pollution for them in 1971, they were a small group with a big job to control real air pollution – lead, oxides of nitrogen, carbon monoxide, and particulate matter. The engineering solutions were what mattered.

Then in mid-1980’s I started noticing a change: the political implications started to become as important as the engineering. By the end of 1990’s politics was all that mattered. The EPA broke its own rules for issuing regulations, and made up data to justify those regulations.

I hope you are in favor of (and working to support) Levin’s proposal (which is based on Article 5 of the Constitution) vis-a-vis “States Should Call Convention to Propose Amending Constitution”…
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Yes _Jim, I am. I would also love to see ten or more years of local, state and federal legislatures going through all the laws and regulations and tossing 80% of them on the dung heap.

Do we really need another 8000 plus pages of new federal regulations? ( Photo 213 Federal Register) Caption: “”Behold my display of the 2013 Federal Register. It contains over 80,000 pages of new rules, regulations, and notices all written and passed by unelected bureaucrats. The small stack of papers on top of the display are the laws passed by elected members of Congress and signed into law by the president.” ~ Sen. Mike Lee

That is really sad.

Heck I would be happy to just start with a READ the BILL law and the making of laws via the Federal Register completely illegal.

Influence peddling is one thing.
Environmental groups often get large court setlements from companies so governmnent contacts can lead to direct financial benefits.
Maybe government contacts useful to extort money from companies.
Government employess accepting money, gifts, vacations in exchange for contacts.
Favors granted to companies that could be worth millions of dollars.

These are the kinds of issues that grand juries have the authority to investigate.
Too much politics involved for Congress to deal with?

Fraud? Could be.
It would be the employees of the EPA that would be investigated and not the Agency itself along with any ouside contacts.
Most of the time the big boys in companies and environmental groups would use lower level people in their dealings as this puts distance between them and any contacts and avoids any trouble for them that might occur.
Grand juries have the authority to investigate and issue indictments which then go through the court system.
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